The present invention relates to a flocked woven fabric onto which may be printed a colorful pattern or solid color. Solid color may be achieved by stock dyeing flock. The flock is thermally set into a laid-down, flattened directional state. The colorful pattern or solid color appears crisp and well-defined without distortion. When used as hunter's outerwear, the fabric is quiet, camouflaged by its colorful pattern, wind-resistant, abrasion-resistant, drapeable, burr retention resistant and preferably treated with a scent-inhibiting chemical. As a result, the fabric serves as a washable apparel item, which will neither be seen, heard or smelled by prey.
Transfer printing onto flattened flocked surfaces is known in the upholstery trade where the flocked surfaces are atop woven backing. Due to the fiber, yarn and construction, the upholstered fabric can't be dyed commercially without shrinkage. The relatively harsh backing is unsuitable for apparel because it is not particularly drapeable. Further, the harsh backing is rough to the touch and therefore noisy in that it rustles appreciably if rubbed against itself or other objects. If outerwear contained such backing and were worn by hunters trying to elude animal prey, such a rustling noise would be detrimental to the hunter's effort at being evasive.
Transfer printing onto flocked surfaces for blankets and apparel has been revealed by earlier patents of one of the present inventors, that is, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,895,748 and 5,059,452, both of whose contents are incorporated herein by reference. However, those patents teach about foamed knitted fabrics, such as those which include a flocked polyurethane foam with flattened fibers which are color printed. Such foamed knitted fabrics have excellent insulating properties but have relatively poor abrasion resistance. The present inventors have made some observations.
In general, foam has a low abrasion point and has been known to crumble when exposed to extremes of humidity and heat over extended periods of time. Further, foam may break down when subjected to strong caustic chemicals or dry cleaning.
When used in outerwear, the foam should be secured to a stretchable backing, such as a knitted substrate, to improve strength. Foam is somewhat permeable and therefore limited in its ability to provide wind-resistance. Foam retains water that renders a fabric somewhat bulky and less drapeable than is the case without it.
A hunter's outerwear plays an important role in the success or failure of the hunt. Hunters do not want to be seen, heard or smelled by their prey. Hunters prefer their outerwear to blend in with their surroundings rather than stand out.
If the appearance of hunter's outerwear contrasts markedly with the environment, the prey may notice the contrast and become startled and dart away. For this reason, a camouflage pattern is preferred to blend in with the surroundings. Depending upon the type of fabric to which the pattern is applied, the realism, coloring and crispness in definition of the pattern will vary. Ideally, the surface of the fabric should not distort the pattern or otherwise take away from the realism of the camouflage.
For instance, if the fabric is knitted or woven, the texture of its surface structure will distort the camouflage pattern or otherwise take away from the realism, crispness or definition. A fabric composed of plastic, on the other hand, has a surface structure which would not distort the pattern.
Many states set aside areas for hunting and require that the outerwear contain bright orange color for safety reasons, because orange is easily recognized by other hunters in the woods and contrasts from the naturally existing colors of wildlife. There is some controversy as to whether the bright orange color, while easily seen by people, is outside the color sensitivity of the eyes of animal prey. If so, outerwear colored bright orange, despite its brilliance when viewed by the human eye, is no more noticeable to wildlife than are other colors.
The surface structure of the fabric, if woven or knitted, however, may diminish the color intensity of the orange color, rendering it less brilliant than it might otherwise be. There are color standards and regulations for hunter's outerwear which require that the orange color satisfy a certain minimum level of brilliance for safety reasons, which may be difficult to meet with outerwear composed of certain types of fabrics.
Unfortunately, many fabrics whose surface structure will not distort color patterns are noisy in that as the hunter moves about or approaches prey, the fabric makes noises which may scare away the nearby prey within earshot.
For instance, the conventional bright orange plastic raincoat poncho may satisfy the brilliance level for orange required for hunting and is waterproof, which is a desired feature for use outdoors. Nevertheless, such a poncho is too noisy for most hunters. It does a hunter little good to appear invisible to prey if the outerwear is so noisy as the hunter approaches that the prey scares off. Indeed, prey may frighten based on what they hear rather than on what they actually see.
Knitted or brushed woven fabrics, on the other hand, are more quiet as the hunter moves about. This is attributed to their surface structure being soft to the touch, rather than rough, so that when rubbed against itself, little if any noise is heard. Nevertheless, the surface structure of the knitted or brush woven fabric, as mentioned previously, distorts the realism of the pattern printed on it.
A nuisance associated with the wearing of conventional outerwear is that the fabric material may pick up burrs, leaves, sticktights, thistles, plant-life originated "hitchhikers", etc. in the outdoors which cling or stick to the fabric (the matter picked up will collectively be referred to hereafter as "burr(s)"). As a consequence, the fabric becomes noisy; removing the burrs from the fabric is a time-consuming task, because each burr must be pulled off the outerwear individually. The task becomes more difficult to accomplish while in the outdoors because the outerwear is being worn at the time and, while the wearer could take time out to clean the outerwear of the burrs if so motivated, inevitably more burrs will be picked up again. Thus, pulling out the burrs individually is a never ending, time consuming and frustrating process to perform. To a hunter, burr retention is more than just a nuisance; any additional noise generated by the outerwear, such as that attributed to the retention of burrs, increases the risk of frightening prey that are within earshot.
Untreated outerwear, when worn, eventually picks up the smell or body odor of its wearer. If downwind of the hunter, prey, which has a keen sense of smell, may pick up the scent given off by such outerwear. Thus, even if the outerwear is quiet and camouflaged, such precautions against being noticed by the prey are defeated if the hunter's scent is picked up by the prey from the outerwear.
Scent inhibiting chemicals for fabrics are available commercially, such as that sold under the trademark ULTRAFRESH.TM.. Therefore, the fabric of the outerwear should be treated with such scent inhibiting chemicals. In this manner, the scent retention problem in outerwear goes away. When a quiet fabric is so treated and camouflaged, the wearer is neither seen, heard or smelled downwind by the prey.
Of course, the outerwear should also be made for comfort. In this connection, the outerwear fabric preferably should be drapable, washable, water resistant, wind resistant, abrasion resistant and burr retention resistant. Further, the fabric should be pleasant to the touch. Also, the fabric should not shrink excessively when subjected to a commercial dyeing process or home wash and dry, but the outerwear should be moisture permeable and breathable.
The outerwear may be exposed to extremes of outdoor temperatures such as temperatures below the freezing point of water. Such frigid temperature conditions may occur unexpectedly and rapidly in some wilderness areas either during the night or from sudden wind chill in mountainous areas. Preferably, the constituents of the flocked outerwear should withstand such temperature extremes without becoming stiff or otherwise causing discomfort to the wearer while moving about.
Many conventional thin fabrics, when color printed upon, normally bleed the colors through, making it commercially impractical to print on the bled through side. Examples of such fabrics include woven poly/cotton, which is used in outerwear for the hunting trade. Thicker fabrics can be used that allow printing on both sides without bleeding the colors through, but such fabrics are obviously heavier, bulkier and generally less cost competitive to use in the mass production of outerwear than thinner fabrics.
It would therefore be desirable to provide an outerwear fabric which helps the hunter from being seen, heard or smelled by prey. It would also be desirable to provide an outerwear fabric useful for other applications, such as rainwear or for use at outdoor sporting events and activities, and which provides a distortion-free color crispness and yet is abrasion resistant and washable. It would further be desirable to employ a fabric that lends itself to color printing on both the front and back without the color bleeding through, and yet the fabric substrate itself may be relatively thin.